“At this point in my career, my vision for SLAM is as a beta-test for a new cultural paradigm. SLAM is an open-access venue that models a new kind of artist-driven community institution. The doors of SLAM are never closed. Performances at SLAM are not stiff, class-coded, regimented affairs; they are neighborhood happenings where the company’s longtime fans from the high-art crowd mingle with the at-risk kids from the local public schools and their parents. At the heart of this machine is the driving force of art and action, and the belief that art can provide a service to a community such that voters, taxpayers, and consumers will consider it indispensable.”

Elizabeth Streb

History

In January 2003, STREB moved into a then vacant former loading facility for the Old Dutch Mustard Company. While preserving both the space’s unobstructed dimensions (30’ high ceilings and 50’ x 100’ footprint) and physical character (exposed cinder block walls and steel I-Beams and a street-level loading gate), STREB transformed 51 North 1st Street into the STREB LAB FOR ACTION MECHANICS (SLAM), a multipurpose space which accommodates the company’s school, 150-seat performance space, rehearsal facilities, trapeze rig and administrative offices. Since opening, SLAM has become a gathering spot for exchange of creative ideas across cultures of kids, dancers, gymnasts, circus specialists and pedestrians. SLAM is a place to experiment, a place that examines the difference between public and private, a place that is all public, all the time.

With unprecedented support for building acquisition from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the New York City Council, the Mayor’s Office and the Brooklyn Borough President’s Office, the company purchased SLAM in November 2007.

Rentals

SLAM is a unique converted industrial space located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Its lobby, 24 foot high ceilings, 50 x 100 clear span space, and capacity to accommodate up to 150 people make it ideal for parties, film and photo shoots, product launches, rehearsals, auditions, performances. For rental information, contact bobby@streb.org.

Parties

Celebrate your birthday (or any other occasion!) SLAM style! Explore time, space, shape, air, impact and energy in an invigorating and athletic way during your very own Action Event.